Gorbachev Seeks Climate Solutions

Global climate changes can affect global peace and stability, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday at an environmental conference in Marina del Rey.

“If droughts continue, if climate changes and food sources are undermined ... we will see social tensions getting worse,” he said through an interpreter.

Gorbachev, president and founder of Green Cross International, was the closing speaker at “Confronting Climate Change: Averting a Global Environmental Crisis,” a one-day meeting presented by Global Green USA, Green Cross’ U.S. affiliate. Green Cross, founded after the 1992 Earth Summit, has affiliates in 26 nations.

Nowhere are climate problems more evident than in the Middle East, Gorbachev said.

“Unless something is done to increase the fresh water supply in [Arab] countries, we could have a crisis of enormous proportions in that region. That is another reason ... to put an end to what is happening in the Middle East right now,” he said.

Gorbachev, 71, said the United States should do its part to reduce emissions and develop sustainable water sources.

Global Green USA leaders agreed that the United States lags behind other First World nations in addressing climate change.

“The Bush administration is still debating” whether climate change is occurring, said Walker Wells, a sustainable urban communities program director. “You see a lot of cities saying, ‘We’re beyond all that.’”